Recycled water use part of city’s future plans

Sometime in the next 20 years recycled wastewater will play a key role in Manteca’s municipal water conservation effort.

Lines are already in place to use treated wastewater – currently returned to almost drinking standards to the San Joaquin River near Oakwood Lake Mobile Home Park – to handle irrigation needs at the Big League Dreams sports complex and the Stadium Retail Center. Recycled water will even run through the fountain that, depending upon wind conditions, shoots up 30 feet along the Highway 120 Bypass. All that is needed is final clearance from the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board.

The city’s intentions of using wastewater for irrigation are included in both the City Wastewater Quality Control Master Plan Update of 2005 as well as in the 2005 Urban Water Management Plan. Both call for recycled water distribution lines to be constructed in stages through 2030 to supply recycled water to other areas within the city. However, a water availability report issued in connection with Austin Road Business Park – the largest commercial, residential, and business park undertaking ever in Manteca – notes that there are no immediate plans to construct distribution lines as the City Council has yet to adopt policies to encourage recycled water use.

It is not clear whether it will be included in the development agreement for Austin Road Business Park as a requirement as that is still in the process of being put together.

The project’s 1,050 acres abuts Woodward Avenue and Highway 99 to the north, an imaginary line if Highway 99 ran due south at the interchange with the 120 Bypass instead of angling off to the southeast, and future Ripon city limits on the south as well as the east.

It would have 3.5 million square feet of general commercial or about four times the amount of square footage as The Promenade Shops at Orchard Valley that is now under construction. It would also have 8 million square feet of industrial, business park, and office use plus 3,400 homes. The industrial uses would generate between 3,000 and 6,000 jobs while the retail portion could yield up to 7,000 jobs.

The homes could accommodate up to 10,200 residents are just under a sixth of the city’s current population.